


Witch

by Jojoba_and_walnuts



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Minecraft, Romantic Fluff, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29579580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jojoba_and_walnuts/pseuds/Jojoba_and_walnuts
Summary: She ran from her home after being sentenced to death. Accused of being a witch, Naomi is forced to run for her life after discovering a talent in the 'dark art' of enchantment and brewery. When lost, she meets a camp of four boys; A man in a green tunic and mask, a goggled man with an accent, a black-haired arsonist, and a man obsessed with baking bring a drastic change to the life she was familiar with.But, the past does not go away.-------------------------------------------------------------------A dreamwastaken fanfic.
Relationships: Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF) & Original Female Character(s), Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)/Original Female Character(s), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Dream SMP Ensemble & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	1. The Girl With No Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On that rainy day, she found freedom.

It was damp.

The humidity in the air made her breath become shallow with discomfort as every movement made her stomach bubble with an extra douse of dread and fear. She could not be heard. Not now.

Clutched tightly to her chest was a bag containing her belongings which she had hastily grabbed before hiding. There hadn't been enough time for her to register the events that were unfolding before her. She tensed as footsteps creaked by where she hid, body shaking slightly out of fear and anxiety. The footsteps passed and she let out a silent sigh of relief, peaking out barely and seeing that, in fact, the coast was clear. It was clear that there were many consequences attached the next sequence of actions she would conduct. If she messed up, it would be it for her.

But she would not be dying today.

Taking the opportunity, she emerged from hiding and ran, her feet moving so fast she could hardly even notice the burning sensation of her old shoes digging into her feet and planting nasty blisters just above her heel and on the soles of her feet. Instead, she could only feel the wind rushing past her as adrenaline pumped through her body, leaving behind the village that had kept her under captivity for all her life until this very moment. The sound of her heart racing and her feet scampering drowned by the sound of the heavy rain falling.

She had probably been running for hours on end when the adrenaline finally wore off and she had collapsed in an open field with nothing in sight but trees and wild animals and the rain falling from above. "I... I did it." A crooked smile crept onto her face as a choked sob of relief bubbled out of her lips. "I did it!" She yelled into the void and felt her body shake with pure relief and happiness.

Where am I? She thought, scanning the area around her. She had been mindlessly moving her feet for so long that she had little to no idea as to where she had landed herself. All she had was her bag crammed with her books, vials, and a couple loaves of stale bread. The food would not last her long and she knew it; she had to find shelter and food and she had to find it fast. But the events of the day had taken a massive toll on her body; her feet were bruised and sore, her body was beat up, and she was lightheaded from the exertion she had placed upon herself.

The emotions coursing through her made her start to tear up, not understanding what exactly to do with all the information she had to process through her head. Here she was, in the middle of no where with barely any food, no water, no shelter, and no weapons caught in a rainstorm. She was in an awful position despite having successfully dodged her inevitable demise back home.

'What am I going to do...?'

Just when she was starting to lose hope in what to do, a voice resonated out through the rain. "Wait! I think I see someone!" It was a higher-pitched male voice, not one she recognized.

"What? Where?" An accented voice now. She could conclude that these were not people from the village she ran from. "Oh shit! What if they're a threat?"

"We'll just stay armed and approach them carefully." She started to sit up slowly but failed, arms shaky from the fatigue that had settled in. "You!" Looking up, there stood the owners of the voices. One was a man with all black clothing sporting a sword in hand, however he for not appear especially menacing. The other man had goggle like eyewear over large, puppy-dog eyes and had an array of tools and gismos pinned to his overalls. "Who are you?"

She looked up at them blankly. She didn't know how to respond to that question without sounding remotely suspicious. "I. . . don't know." She said. "I just want to find food and shelter." Looking at their faces, she noticed a hint of sympathy creep into their expression. "I don't really have a place I can go."

"Bad." The goggled man turns to his companion named Bad. "What if we took her back to the base?"

"What? But what will Dream and Sapnap think? We can't just show up with a girl out of no where, George!"

"But what if she gets sick out here? Bad, we can't just leave her alone out here." George and Bad had piqued her interest. She wondered who these 'Dream' and 'Sapnap' people were, but she was already preoccupied trying to understand how she had gotten lucky enough to run into other people.

"I promise I will leave after a day!" She interrupts them. "I just need shelter for one night and I promise I will leave." The boys share a glance and hoist the girl up. For the first time in a long time, she felt hopeful.

\---

Their base was nicer than she had imagined it would be. It consisted of a large building built into a mountain with a quaint farm and dock built by the river for fishing. It was not fancy, but it certainly looked homey with the lanterns that hung from the surrounding trees and by the entrance as well as with the makeshift cobblestone path that led up to the door.

"Come on. Let's get you inside so you don't freeze to death." Bad said, opening the door for her to step inside. Walking in there was a large and open space consisting of what looked like a living room and a kitchen with lots of counters, furnaces, and cabinets. It was warm and well lit, giving her a strange sense of comfort just looking at it. "Guys we're back!"

A black haired man walked down some stairs into the room, a massive grin on his face. He had a bandana tying back the mop of hair on his head and looked like a puppy who just had his family come home. "Eyyy! Welcome back-- woah what is that?" His eyes land on the shivering, beat up girl who had raided his home. She really couldn't blame him for being confused when she herself was confused on how she managed to get this far.

"Um. I'm not a 'that'. I'm a person." The silence prolongs. 'Ok this is awkward.' She looks at him for a moment then smiles awkwardly and somehow manages to say again, through her own embarrassment, "I promise I'll leave soon." A sudden urge to kill herself washed over her as she stood there in full embarrassment; social interaction was not turning out very smoothly.

"You brought home a girl!?!?" The boy shrieks, looking at Bad and George for explanation.

George sighs. "She was lying alone in the planes getting soaked by the rain. We couldn't leave her there and she needs a place to spend the night."

"How do you know if we can even trust her?"

"Yeah, George, how do you know?" Another voice this time, deeper than all the other ones, she had noted. Out came a tall man wearing green, a mask covering the upper half of his face. He was very tall, she noted instantly, and he most certainly did not look amused with the girl's presence.

"I well... you see there was um..."

"See George I told you they wouldn't like this!"

"Oh shut up you helped me bring her here!"

"Don't try to blame me for this, buster! You decided to---"

"Oi!" She finally spoke, somehow managing to catch all of their attention. "Look. I genuinely understand if you can't give me shelter." A sigh draws from her lips. She wondered if she was blowing it by saying these things to them. "But please, do not let anyone know that I came through here. I beg of you."

The masked man gave me a long look. "Sapnap, can you get her some water?" The black hair man, now identified as Sapnap, paused for a moment before leaving to do as the masked man, who she had deduced was probably Dream, had asked. "What's your name?"

'I don't exactly have one', she thinks, awkwardly scratching her neck. She searched her brain for something, anything she could come up with. "Naomi. That's my name. Naomi. You're Dream?"

"Ha, did Bad and George mention me?" He says amused.

"I promise I will leave by tomorrow."

Dream cocks an eyebrow at her. Was she stuck on repeat? "You've said. As long as you contribute to hunting and gathering I don't really care if you stay." Naomi gives him a confused look. She crosses her arms and looks at him pointedly.

"Didn't you just say that you didn't have any reason to trust me?"

"Yeah, but it looks like I could snap you in half if you so much as attempted to do anything idiotic." She blinks a couple times, taking in the statement.

"Pardon?"

"I'm saying that I will personally snap your neck if you try to hurt anyone here. If you won't hurt anyone, I won't defend my men." Naomi stared at him for a bit. 'This Dream guy was definitely... abrasive', she thought to herself. She didn't exactly blame him for being abrasive, yet she was still a little peeved over his tone. Though honestly, she had nothing to lose by staying at this base; she had no where else to go anyways so having a secured place for shelter and food would be great.

"Huh." Her final response is lackluster, but she was too cold and tired to really think much deeper than that.

Sapnap comes back with the water and hands it over to her, hands brushing against hers. "Fucking hell you're freezing! Bad, George, why the hell is she so cold?"

"Are you stupid, we told you she was lying out in the planes in the middle of a rain storm!" George flicked his forehead, making the boy yelp out. "Come one Naomi let's get you into the bath before you get sick." George dragged her over and out of the main living space and down a hallway towards the bathroom, Sapnap following close behind. They gave her a towel and some androgynous clothing before leaving her to wash herself up.

Meanwhile in the main living space, Bad was giving Dream an odd look. "Why are you trusting her so easily?" It wasn't that Bad didn't want Naomi to stay with them, but rather that he was confused as to how the man in the mask had so readily and easily agreed to keeping her here for longer than just one night. It was not like him.

Dream on the other hand just shrugged. "George looked like he was going to cry if I didn't let her stay at least the night. What's the worst that could happen if she stays a little longer. It's not like we can't take her on if she does something stupid to hurt us." Bad hums out a sound of understanding and moves to the kitchen to begin working on a dinner. "Though something is off about her."

"She was alone in the plains! No one in their right mind lies in an open field during a rain storm. She's absolute muffins! What if something came and attacked her?" The man was frantically tossing together greens as he spoke, turning to his companion. "If we hadn't found her she probably would've died for all we know!"

Dream looked towards the hallway where the bathroom was. Who exactly was this girl?

\---

Naomi sat in a tub of hot water heated up by fiery red magma rocks. She had been hesitant to get in, but the warm water was extremely soothing against the cold on her skin. The brown of her skin was marred with burn marks and bruises and her hair was tangled up in knots. As she attempted to take care of her poor, frizzy hair and scrub the filth from her skin while going over the current situation in her head.

Ran away from her 'home' after being sentenced to death. Got lost. Got found. Is now in a home with four men who also live seemingly in the middle of no where. "What the fuck have I gotten myself into..." Muttering, she pulled herself into a ball in the bath, resting her head on her knees. Beside her was her bag, and she tentatively reached over and grabbed a book from the inside, being careful as to not get it wet. The etchings of her handwritten annotations littered the pages and she flipped to the newest one, attempting to distract herself. However, only one thought remained in her head:

'What are they doing out here?'

\---

"Welcome back, Naomi!" Bad cheerily said, his demeanor much nicer now than when she first encountered him. "I made some greens and lambchops so hurry up and sit at the table." Naomi stood there confused, hair still damp and skin still slightly flushed from the hot bath. She awkwardly sat at the table where Sapnap, George, and Dream were already sitting.

"Hurry up, otherwise the food will be cold." George chided, pulling a chair out beside him. She sat and looked at them while they began to eat their food, Bad finally sitting down and joining them as well. "Oi, what are you doing? Eat."

"If you're not gonna eat it just give it to me." Sapnap says, mouth full of greens.

"Mind your manners!!!" Naomi looked at the back and forth banter happening between the three men whilst shoving some lamb into her mouth. The flavor was so warming and homey that she instantly concluded that Bad was a greatest cook she'd ever met. They began to call each other dumb names out of spite, Bad never once cursing while Sapnap and George replaced every other word with 'fuck' and 'shit'.

"Are you all brothers?" She finally decided to ask, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Nah, but we might as well be. I've known these fools almost all my life." Sapnap rolled his eyes. "All they do is cause trouble."

Dream snorted and continued eating, not really saying much, but an amused look is still on his face. "You're a fetus Sappy Nappy, shut the flying fuck up." Sapnap threw a tomato from his greens at George who screeched in return and flicked meat juice at him.

Naomi was now convinced she had been admitted to a mental asylum and wanted out. Turning to Bad for some reassurance, all she was met with was a yippy man yelling 'Language!' at the other two boys. Looking over at Dream, she did not expect to see the blond haired man to burst out into a fit of wheezy laughter over the other boys' antics.

This was surely going to be interesting.

\------------

1 - 4 - 21


	2. The Men in the Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What life do the mysterious men in the forest live?

_Most days at the base were monotonous; a cycle of eat, hunt, sleep and the occasional adventure here and there to find other civilizations near them for trading purposes. The day before they had found Naomi was just like any other. Dream had been smelting some ores while Sapnap was fishing as usual out by the dock, passing the time by setting leaves on fire between line snags. Bad was inside baking some bread and George was tending to their small field of crops. It was a lazy, boring day and all four of the men were craving change._

_"Dream~" The goggled man slumped over his dear friend, exasperated. "I want to do something." The blond ruffled George's hair and chuckled, amused by his friend's antics. They were brothers, in every light, as the connection they shared was far deeper than any friendship imaginable. "Get off your fat ass and come do something with me."_

_"Why don't you and Bad head out and gather some supplies then? You don't gotta ask me before doing stuff, you know." By then his companion had already shot off to collect Bad. Sapnap snorted, looking up at the overcast sky and lying on his back on the dock._

_"It's gonna rain soon and you're sending them out? Not your smartest idea, Clay."_

_"Like I said, they can do whatever they want to. They're big boys." They laughed as a smattering of rain droplets began to fall from the sky. "What's the worst that could happen?"_

\---

Naomi woke up to the sound of screeches. The boys had given her a bed in the storage closet where she would sleep until George dug out and built a room for her. Annoyed and cranky, she gets up and makes herself mildly presentable, wearing fresh clothing Bad had given her while the clothes she came with were drying. Sitting on the bed, she opened up her satchel and rummaged through her things. Along with the books and vials she had managed to grab, she found a small drawstring bag containing five lapis lazuli gemstone. She mentally cheered, seeing that finding these gems was a whole different pain of it's own, and she always needed them on hand. Unfortunately, she did not have any blaze powder hidden in her bag, and she created a mental note for herself.

It was probably no later than 9 AM, with how fresh it smelt of dew and sunshine. Outside, she was met with the sight of Sapnap, George, and Bad trying to 3 v 1 Dream in a sword fight. To her surprise, Dream did not seem to be struggling in even the slightest.

"NO!" George roared as Dream smacked the sword from his hands, leaving the brown haired lank defenseless. Sapnap managed to catch the masked man off guard while he was distracted with George's outburst, and Bad yelled at George to get his sword back.

Naomi watched intently. They were all really skilled, and she could tell they all had very ingrained survival skills. Not many people lived out on their own in this world, seeing how much danger there was at every turn. Living in larger communities and villages was the safest way to protect yourself from the creatures that roamed around at night, and for the most part commoners did not have the liberty of having lanterns and weapons to protect themselves with.

"Naomi!" She snapped her head up to see Bad standing there. "We've been calling your name out for minutes now!" They had all flocked around her, tired and dripping with sweat. 

"Sparring?"

"Yeah, Dream makes us every morning." Sapnap groaned. "He's so annoying."

"It's good for us!" Bad smacked his arm. "It's dangerous at night so we have to be able to defend ourselves, you know?" He started explaining how the sparring worked, George and Sapnap pitching in with extra details here and there of the rules and the extent they could go to.

"Hey." Dream said, a devious smile on his lips. Naomi cocked an eyebrow at him. "Grab a weapon." 

"Come again?" 

"I want to see what you're capable of. You can choose who you want to spar with." She was not expecting to be 'tested' so early, but figured that there wasn't much of a way to avoid the circumstances at hand. She looked over at the array of weapons laid out and picked up the bow with a set of arrows and a sword. All she really wanted was to stay as far away from their sweaty selves as possible and get the whole ordeal out of the way. 

"I'll use this then." A smile finds its way onto her face and she moves out to the open section of the space. "How about... Sapnap?" Bad looked at her with a shocked expression.

"Naomi, I don't think that's a good idea. Sapnap is um... explosive? Competitive?"

"He's a psychopath."

"Insane."

"Arsonist in need of therapy?"

"Absolutely, positively, vile and--" 

"I THINK SHE GETS IT." Sapnap interjected between the two of them insulting him. He kicked at their shins while Dream wheezed silently.

"Point is that fighting against me or Bad would be a better idea." George follows up. Naomi only shook her head.

"I appreciate the concern but," she readied the bow and aimed for Sapnap, "it's Sapnap who I want to fight." The arrow whizzes by Sapnap's shoulder, barely scratching his bicep and leaving a paper cut thin slice on his skin.

"Oh it's on."

He lunged towards the girl, running up to her at a much quicker speed than she initially imagined, but managed to counteract by running away herself. The sparring area was pretty cleared out save for a smattering of dark oak trees. Reaching up at a branch, Naomi hoisted herself up and out of Sapnap's reach. He was physically much stronger than she was; he had a more muscular, taller frame than she did and she didn't think that she would be able to hold out very long on a short-range fight with him. 

Long range on the other hand. . . 

Naomi loaded her bow and aimed it back at the black haired man, shooting at him and causing him to back off from climbing up the tree with her. She looked at her satchel from the corner of her eye and saw her lapis. Did she want to pull it out and use it on the arrows?

Before she would come to any verdict, Sapnap had climbed up the tree and swung his sword at her, which she managed to barely block. Metal clashed against metal, Sapnap's quick and calculated swings causing the girl to almost lose her balance and fall off the tree. He swings at her feet, successfully causing her to lose balance several times until she stumbles and slips off the branch. Within the last moment, Naomi manages to grab onto the branch. 

She was desperately raking her brain on how to gain the upper hand. Bad had briefly mentioned how they weren't meant to hurt each other during sparring practice, so she couldn't just shoot an arrow into his skull. He was physically too overpowering and unless she could restrain him, there wasn't much she could do other than run. From the corner of her eye she saw a section of muddy land, likely still wet and slippery from the storm the day before.

She jumped from the tree and shot an arrow at Sapnap's foot, catching him off balance and forcing him to jump down. The land was smooth enough for him to quickly recover. "Come here Naomi!"

' _Jeez'_ she thought to herself as the bandana boy got increasingly aggressive over the duration of the fight. Running towards the muddied land, she managed to take a larger leap and step over the patch of muddy land while Sapnap, who hadn't been paying attention to the ground, slipped into the mud. She stabbed a bow through the fabric of his shirt on either side of him as to keep him from standing up or retrieving his sword and raised her own up to his neck.

"Good game." She panted out, eventually withdrawing her sword and offering a hand to Sapnap, who looked at her with massive, astonished eyes. Immediately she figured that these men had clearly never met a woman before in their lives.

"Holy shit." George ran up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You're such a badass!! What the fuck, Sapnap you just got crushed." 

"Be nice!" Bad immediately chided, helping Sapnap remove the arrow from his shirt and grumbling about the extra laundry from the now muddy shirt. "Nice job! I haven't seen Sapnap lose that badly before."

"So much for being nice." Rolling his eyes, Sapnap grumbled under his breath. He definitely looked like his ego had been bruised, giving Naomi an odd sense of satisfaction. It reminded her somewhat of her village, with all the young men and women sparring for fun amongst one another during their breaks. She smiled at the boys' banter.

They looked back at her in a bit of surprise. Dream especially had a softer expression looking at the girl who he had been initially colder toward. "Well would you look at that," George nudged her. "Didn't think you'd get all smiley that quick."

"You guys are cute." She chuckled, handing back the weapons to Dream. "Thanks for letting me stay here. You're all very nice." And with that, she head back inside to wash up, leaving the blond haired man slightly flustered. 

"We really need to talk to more women." 

\---

"Are these your real names?" After having cleaned up, Bad and Naomi were in the kitchen making fresh bread with the flour that the boys had in storage. She had only a little bit of experience in breadmaking, usually only partaking in the process of growing the wheat for the flour. With her hair pinned out of her face and a dusty apron on, she listened to Bad's instructions as they worked together. She had decided that out of all of the boys, he was the most nurturing and had helped her ease into living at the base the most, even despite his original hesitation when they met. "I mean, other than George. That's a pretty normal name."

"Nah, we have given names." He pushed his glasses up and floured his hands. "Sapnap's real name is Nick. He's actually the youngest one out of all of us, but he acts like he's more mature than he is." From a couple rooms over Naomi heard a _'I heard that!'_ and giggled, continuing her kneading. "George is just George. He's a year younger than I am. I'm Darryl. Though I prefer Bad because it sounds cooler."

Naomi laughs and sets the dough in a bowl of prove. "Is there a reason as to why your nickname is contrary to your personality?"

"I'm a cool kid what do you mean!?" They wheezed, Naomi especially so. "But yeah I'm the eldest here, if you couldn't tell."

"I thought Dream was the eldest one here, seeing how much respect everyone gives him."

He shakes his head. "He's younger than George by a couple years. Three years? I think?"

"Spot on." They turned their head towards the hallway, where George was leaning up against the wall before walking over kitchen and sitting at one of the chairs near the counter where they were working. He grabbed an orange from the bowl of fruit on the counter and started pealing it. "Sappy nappy is two years younger than him. Bad's a year older than me."

"Wow you guys _really_ don't act your age." Naomi deadpanned before breaking out into a smile again. She focused her attention on kneading the next bit of dough. "Oh wait. What's Dream's real name?"

"Clay." Her eyes shot up again to see the blond haired man come into the room, wearing a turtleneck and some pants. "But I prefer Dream anyways." He pulled into a chair next to George and stole a slice of his fruit, making the man punch him in the arm. Sapnap walked in and joined everyone at the kitchen counter. 

"Yo!" They smiled at him, Dream throwing him an apple.

"What about you, Naomi?" Bad pulled out a bowl of proved dough and began to score and work it one last time as the furnaces heated up. "We never really asked you what you were doing out there yesterday."

"Oh I..." She trailed off. She can see their eyebrows furrowing slightly and she wonders just how much is safe to reveal. She doesn't know them well enough. "I was a farmhand back in the village. I would mostly help grow the crops and tend to the other kids and animals. Lots of medical things. Kids are dumb, so they are always getting hurt." She laughed a little only to notice that they were all listening closely, not reciprocating. 

"So you were a medic?" Sapnap questioned. 

"You can call it that." She leaned up against the counter, resting her chin on her hand. "It was really popular to spar where I lived. Other than the couple of rich folk, we were making ends meet with how high the taxes were. Not many people had the money to make lanterns so we had to fight against the monsters of the night by ourselves."

"Oh so that's how you beat Sapnap's ass?" George heckled, causing Sapnap to throw an apple seed at him.

"What were you doing last night then?" Dream interjected, tone serious. Naomi racked her brain from some sort of excuse. 

"I was lost." It came out before she could think of anything better to say. "I had gone away from the village and I got lost." The blond haired man just hummed at her response, staring at her. She did not look visibly uncomfortable, but she certainly felt her heart hammering away in her chest. "But, either way I'm really grateful George and Bad found me out there. Oh shit the bread!" She blurted out before dusting her hands and moving over to the oven, pulling a loaf of bread out and putting it on the counter to cool, her hands burning at the temperature. Bad chided her for acting reckless again, slipping in a _'Language'_ in there somewhere and the atmosphere of the room went back to it's usual, less tense self save for the one man looking at the dark haired girl with a curious look on his face.

\----------

_1 - 8 - 21_


	3. A Development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How much melancholy lies in the hearts of the lonely?

"Did you get all the iron?" George and Naomi had been sent off onto a mining trip to get iron and diamond ores. Dream had announced that he wanted to go to the Nether but the group didn't have the proper tools to mine the obsidian to build a proper portal. 

"Yep!" She hoisted up the sack of ores up to show her companion and grinned. "What about you Mr. Gorg?" 

He showed her his own sack and she gave him a thumbs up. "Packin'." They snickered and hauled their bundles up and out of the cave, getting a secure grip on them before starting their trek back to the base. Covered in dust and scratched up, both Naomi and George held the marks of labor upon their skin. 

"Aye let's head back!" They walked in a comfortable silence, occasionally getting side tracked when they saw a pretty flower or a cute wild sheep. They had always been cute to her, with their large eyes and cute fuzzy coats; She simply did not understand people who didn't like the company of animals. Naomi wanted to take an animal home but decided she should ask before acting recklessly. Dream and the others seemed to live a methodical life, and she didn't want to throw in any more curveballs without asking their collective opinion on the matter. "Alright George, I have a question for you."

"Hit."

"Who would you say you're closest with?" Earlier, she had been thinking about the boys' relationships in accordance to one another. Where she had come from before, the reproduction of children was done in order to get more work done; more people meant more laborers. "That's probably not a fair question thought since you're all awfully close, yeah?"

"Oh man I don't know... they're all like, reallyyyy close to me. I guess you can call them my brothers? We've all known each other for so long I can't remember what life is like without them." Naomi smiled at the response. 

"Did you grow up together?"

"Yep! We're all from another town but we decided to move away after some personal issues went down. Plus, we all wanted more freedom on what we could do, so we decided to stick together and find a way to live out by ourselves." His eyes seemed to dilate in excitement, getting pumped up over the very thought of their first ideas of independence. He was an optimistic one, Naomi thought as she looked at the expression of her companion brighten up their walk back home. "So when we found this spot out here it only really took us a couple months of building and work to be able to move. We have lots of things we want to accomplish while we're out here and being in a group has made it really easy for us."

"It's really sweet." 

"Aw yeah you think so?"

"Ohhh yeah." She responded instantly. "Where I lived, if you're from a farm you're more of a worker than you are someone's child or family. It's been... a change since I've come to the base. You guys' relationship is so amazing to me." She gave him a beaming grin. "I love it."

George looked over at her and ruffled her hair. "I'm really glad you're here with us." He had a soft smile on his face, and Naomi felt her heart melt. It was a feeling that she had read about in the books she read as a child. A feeling that described the protection of an older sibling, the warmth of a mother, the graze of sunshine upon one's skin, the coziness of a warm fireplace, and the security of a roof above one's head. He was so. . . brotherly. She felt a sense of community and family that she had not experienced to this extent in her life until that point. 

"Thank you for finding me."

\---

"Alright men! And woman!" Dream was laying out the plan on how they would be going to the Nether and gathering supplies. He had made the portal earlier that day and the others are finished gathering up all the necessary supplies for their trip into what many referred to as Hell. "We'll look around the area and see if we can find a fortress. Stay at least 100 meters close to each other and don't lose sight of anyone. Got it?" They all nodded in agreement.

"Compasses don't work there and it's gonna be damn hot. What're we gonna do about that?" Sapnap groaned. Naomi had learned that for the most part, the boys preferred moderate and cool weather to hot weather save for Dream who seemed to love a steamy day. It was peculiar to her, who was partial towards rainy weather, how someone could enjoy the heat.

"We can make landmarks with stone. It's almost all red in there, so it'll stand out if we made trails for ourselves." They all nod in agreement. It was time for them to get moving. They stepped into the portal, distortion making them dizzy and nauseous as their vision blurred until it reached a blackness.

When they opened their eyes, they were surrounded by a red landscape covered in fire and ash. It was uncomfortably hot, like the feeling of opening an oven and getting hot gusts of air blown out and into your face. Naomi sighed; she was not a fan on the Nether, but it had all the materials she needed for her work. They decided to split into two groups, with Naomi and Sapnap going one direction and Bad, George and Dream going another. 

"Why the hell does that green idiot like hot weather anyways." Sapnap groaned, wiping sweat off his forehead. "This place sucks."

"Have you been here before?" Naomi had already been to the Nether before, and she was _not_ a fan in the slightest. She mined some glowstone dust as she spoke to the boy accompanying her.

"Yeah, once. This place sucks though. It was only because the green bastard wanted me to help him find some gold for golden apples." He groaned, seemingly reminiscing his first time coming to the Hell dimension. "And then we got shot at. By a fucking floating balloon."

Naomi broke out into wheezing laughter. "A balloon?? You mean a Ghast?"

"Yeah that shit. Not cool." Grabbing the last of the vein of glowstone, Naomi jumped down and the two kept at their trekking. "Let me guess you've already been here before?"

"Several times. I'm with you though this place sucks."

"Any particular reason why?" He asked, stopping to mine a vein of gold ore.

"I smell like old socks five minutes into being here and its full of walking pigs in gold armor. It's a living fever dream."

"Emphasis on fever." Sapnap groaned out. "I hate thissss. Can we just hurry up and head back?"

"Oi, I don't know about you but I actually really want some of the stuff from this place, sucky as it is. And I am not leaving you to get swarmed by Pigmen alone!"

"Fiiinnee." They kept at it, working their way through the rough terrain gathering materials along the way. Every vein of glowstone and gold in their path was mined and carefully stored into Naomi's rucksack in the form of dust powder and nuggets. Sapnap, on the other hand, had been stocking up on mass quantities of mushrooms and strange red and blue wood from the trees growing in the colorful biomes they traversed. By the time a couple hours had passed, they had gathered just about as much material as their bags could hold hauled it back to the portal, where the other group of three was waiting for them. "Ey! How'd it go?"

"We found a Fortress!!" Bad exclaimed, showing the others the loot they had gathered. "We got Nether wart, blaze rods, saddles, and even some obsidian. George almost died to a loose brick but it was totally worth the haul."

"You did **not** have to mention that."

"We got some soul sand too so we can just make a farm for the Nether warts back at the base." Dream said, digging some out and showing it off. Naomi grinned. "Alright, let's get this stuff back home!" 

\---

The boys had sat down in the living room for drinks while Naomi excused herself to her room for a bit. She had very distinctly mentioned to them that she would need space for the next hour and not to disturb, much to the others' confusion. 

In front of her, Naomi had a rickety brewing stand which she had made for herself using a blaze rod and stone as well as a layout of glowstone powder, redstone powder, gold nuggets, melon, spider eyes, and sugar before her. Placed meticulously on her dark oak table was a set of two dozen glass bottles full of water from the nearby river and sealed with corks. The organization on the table did not match the energy of the 

Her hair was pinned up and out of her face, a few short, curly strands framing her face, and a pair of white gloves contrasted against the bronze of her arms. She was absolutely not going to be burning herself, unlike previous times, as they had scarred the skin against her forearm, palms and fingers far too many times for her to be comfortable with it happening again.

Humming out tunes, she flipped through her notebook full of messy notes regarding the recipes she would be making, scratching her head at the nonsensical notes such as 'insert red shit here' and 'fucked up try again' written in the margins of her paper. She sighed, cursing her past self for trying to be funny with her notes instead of helpful and skimmed through her work until her found a foundation for her to begin working with.

She cracked her knuckles and pulled her sleeved up, beginning her brewing.

\---

Outside her room, the boys were sitting at the table playing a game of Go Fish, which Bad had lovingly pitched for the game night. Despite their initial groans and complaints, the others gave into the eldest man's sad puppy eyes and threats to never make them food again. "George, do you have any Queens?" 

"Go fish, you loser." And so their game went, the four of them sipping on freshly made beer from their wheat stock and playing card games. "Hey Dream, how do you think the others back home are?" George's voice was heavy, the intoxication from many drinks finally settling in and causing them all to fall into a tipsy state.

"Why're you asking me?" The man hiccupped and made his turn in the game. 

"What you aren't wondering how Tommyyy or Dristaaa or Wilbur are?" Sapnap droned on, elongating his words. "How about Big Q? You don't even miss Big Q or Karllll or Tubbbooo or anyone? All the fun times with Antfrost or anyone?" It was pretty clear to Dream that Sapnap was far more drunk than anyone else. Low tolerance, he could assume. "Come on I know you miss them."

"Well I _do_ think about them but I'm sure they're all fine back home. It's not like I'm worried for their safety or anything. They can all defend themselves and they're all together." Dream knew he missed home; He was a family man. But, it had been his idea to leave their hometown in the first place, and he did not have any intentions of ever moving back. For some reason or another, an uncomfortable feeling settled in his stomach as he thought of what backlash he might face if he were to go back, as irrational as it would be. He had hardly been in contact with anyone save for Drista, who was his younger sister, and even then the communication with her was curt and infrequent enough to even count as being 'in contact'. "Why are you even asking me this?"

"We should go back someday." Bad said very calmly, catching the others off guard. They stared at him, making the eldest man look at them funnily. "What?! I know you guys probably miss them just as much as I do. We can make a trip with everyone and even introduce Naomi to the people back home. Imagine how absolutely awesome that would be!"

George and Sapnap immediately jumped onto the idea, beaming in excitement as they praised Bad for his 'ingenious' idea, giving him high fives and pouring him another round of beer in celebration. Dream sat there with a smile on his face, but his mind kept churning out the bad outcomes. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see George looking at him with a crooked grin, the other boys also giving him a knowing look.

"We'll be there, man. Don't have to be nervous about it."

Dream scoffed playfully. "Oh thanks, nerd. Totally cured me there."

"Oh shut up." George rolled his eyes and slapped his friend's shoulder. "I'll kick your ass if you don't come with us. How about that?" 

"LanguAGE!" 

"Oh come onnnnn Bad!" George groaned, rolling his eyes even more dramatically than the first time. He filled up Bad's cup and placed it right in front of him, flopping onto the floor and giving his friend a shit-eating grin. "Drink up we're going to teach you how to talk like a real sailor."

"NO!" 

Sapnap giggled and started singing badly written song lyrics as George and Bad yelled about profanities. The room was full of noise and it got so loud, even Naomi peaked out of here room momentarily to check and see what the hell was happening. She locked eyes with Dream amidst the chaos, and he just shrugged and smiled at her. She laughed and left, leaving them to resume their dumb, chaotic behavior. Dream watched in full amusement as the house filled up with liveliness, heart feeling slightly more at ease. 

\------

 _1-16-21_


	4. A Rise in Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past doesn't let go of it's firm grasp.

"What do you mean she got away?" Back in the town of Riverbend, the local officials were tense. The main governing body stood anxious as they awaited the harsh response of their leader. "I did not ask you fools to run after that stupid girl only to come back to me empty handed!" A man of powerful stature sat upon his chair, a frown etched into his face.

"Sire!" An official spoke up, shaking slightly in fear for his own life as he attempted to defend his squadron's actions. "We searched the entire radius for 50 miles by foot, Sire, and she was no where to be found. Our men have been searching for months and there have been no results. We suspect she took some sort of elixir to make her travel faster upon foot." 

"Have you checked every neighboring village and town?" 

"Yes Sire. None have heard or seen of any girl that fits our description." The army of men were exhausted after having to search every last nook and cranny of the land surrounding their highly developed town. Despite the orders of their leader, they too felt as if he was going too far with his orders to raid the homes of others in order to find the one girl. "We have no results, Sire."

"Then search harder. Search better. Search further and faster." The words are cruel, sharp, and pointed. "That witch is out there right now doing God knows what. Making a fool out of me and my men? I refuse! Not a single soul will sit idle until she is found and returned! We must burn her at the stake and make her repent for her acts of evil."

"Yes Sire!" The call rang out amongst all the men. 

"Who knows what she is doing at this very moment. . ."

\---

"Ow, fuck meeee." Naomi groaned as a sharp pain jolted through her abdomen. She buried her head into her pillow and groaned into it. She felt like a child, moaning and complaining, however she knew that her menstrual cycle was going to be awful and painful. To make the matters worse, she doubted that the men she was now living with would even know what to do with her iron-deficient, exhausted and emotional self. _'I can complain... this is more than a valid reason'_ , She thought to herself as she sat up on her bed and sighed, attempting to pick at the tangled, frizzy curls on her head. She had rounded up a bunch of of the boy's old clothes they were no longer wearing and stripped them up into pads for herself whilst she tried to cheer herself up about her upcoming period.

She had been living with the four boys for several months now and she had settled in nicely. George had built her a room squished between Dream and Bad's rooms. It was a nice amount of space and gave her enough room to fit in a good amount of book shelves and books as well as a desk, chair, and double chest all made of dark oak, which she had an affinity towards. She had made herself a mirror for above her chest where she fixed her hair and the like after waking up as to not to walk out looking like a pufferfish covered in drool stains. 

"Naomi! Come out here and help me with dinner!" Bad yelled out to her and she grumbled, rolling out of bed looking a mess. She shuffled over to the kitchen, washed her hands, and reluctantly began chopping up the vegetables set out and washed. "Geez you look like a mess!" 

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious here, Sir Bad."

"Yeah yeah. But I'm being serious here! Is everything okay?" She looked up at him for a moment, blinked a couple times, and then resumed her chopping. 

"I'm fine I'm just... really tired. I'll be fine soon enough." Sapnap walked into the kitchen, humming a dumb little tune. On any other day she wouldn't mind his singing and silly antics, but her mood was sour and she gave him an equally sour look in response to his humming. 

"Woah yikes. Naomi is having lady problems."

"Repeat that and I'll fecking dice you." She grumbled and pointed the knife at him. The black haired man put his hands up in defense. 

"Geez fine!" She sighed at his response, and instantly felt bad. Her emotions were racing left and right for absolutely _zero_ reason. Sure she had a reason to feel annoyed, but lashing out would do no good. She looked at him guiltily and frowned.

"I'm sorry. . ." She frowned and gave him an apologetic look. Sapnap gave her an awkward little pat on the shoulder in comfort and smiled at her reassuringly, a gesture meaning ' _It's fine don't worry_ '. The kitchen remained a comfortably silent. She continued her work until the cramps were getting more and more severe. Just as she was going to ask to excuse herself to her room to rest, Bad shooed her off and told her to get some sleep.

A few minutes later Dream and George walked through the front door, coming home from a mining trip with a bundle of ores. "We're back!" They settled down and the four boys sat around the living room and talked. "Where's Naomi at?"

"She looked beat so she's napping. Let her sleep." Bad explained and the men nodded. They began to share the findings of their mining expedition. "Oh wow you found lapis and diamond?" 

"Yeah! I spotted the diamond ores like the genius I am." George boasted and Dream scoffed at him.

"Oh shut up. You thought it was iron because you're colorblind." They heckled George who rolled his eyes in fake annoyance. "But I don't know what we're going to do with this lapis. George thought that they were diamonds but I guess we can find some use for them."

The door to Naomi's room flung open. "May I have them please?!" They turned to look at her. She looked an absolute mess: hair in two messily done braids with stray hairs coming out and undone, dark circles under her eyes, and a mess of night clothing consisting of loose pants and an old tunic. "If you have no other use for them that is!" Dream just started at her for a second, extremely amused by just how utterly disheveled she looked and how sudden her outburst had been. He slid the lapis towards her and her broke out into a grin. "Very great. You're the best!" She waddled over, grabbed the gems and ran back into her room, bubbling with excitement.

"Oooookay?" Sapnap said, a snicker bubbling from his throat. "What was that about?" The others shrugged. Just then, there was a knock at the front door. It was rather harsh, and all four men's eyebrows furrowed. The air of the room suddenly got tense; they had never had a visitor come and knock at their door unannounced. Dream stood and grabbed his sword, keeping it on standby as he opened the door tentatively only to reveal three men in armored clothing standing before him. On their armor was a crest of some town that he did not recognize, leading him to infer that these men had traveled far to get here.

"Can I help you?"

The armored man in the middle took the initiative to speak. "Good evening sir. We are knights of Riverbend. We are in search for a witch that has escaped from our captivity. Have you perchance encountered any women as of late? Medium stature, unruly... even savage looking." He paused as he waited for Dream to respond, who only looked at him blankly. He ebbed on. "She appears and is of lower class...?"

Dream started at the man. Was he... trying to describe Naomi? She wasn't in any way 'savage' or 'unruly' like he had described. Then, pushing through all his other thoughts, one very specific one resurfaced for him, clear as when it was first said to him; _"Please, do not let anyone know that I came through here. I beg of you."_ She had said that first night she came to the base. It had struck him as off when he first heard her say it, but now his blood ran cold with the influx of possibilities of what the implications of her statement were. Were these men looking for her? 

"No." It came out before he could even think twice. "I haven't seen any woman like that."

"Are you su--"

"Yes, I'm positive. Now please, leave me and my men alone." Dream gave them a curt nod and closed the door. The foot steps of the armored men gradually softened as they left. He turned to where Sapnap, George and Bad were sitting, having heard the interaction. "We need to talk to her. Now."

\---

Naomi sat in the living room, the four men across from her. She had been stripped away from her brewing and enchanting so suddenly that she had barely the time to shove all her things away before the boys had knocked on her door asking for her. She felt slightly panicked, not knowing whether she had done something wrong or if they had found something out about her. 

"Naomi." Dream spoke her name in a seriousness she had not heard since when she had first come to the base. "Do you know of any witches?" 

She looked at Dream with wide eyes, blinking a few times to ease her nerves. "Um. What?"

"A couple of men came by and they said they were looking for a woman. They said she was a witch." Bad said, trailing off as he felt an unsettling feeling settle into his own stomach. People did not like witches, deeming them as malicious and disgusting creatures who harnessed dark energy, and Bad knew the repercussions that Naomi may face if she was what they were all suspecting that she was. He had grown fond of her and didn't want to see the results of centuries of hate create hostility between the people he loved. "Please tell us the truth."

"Looking for a woman..." Naomi looked at their eyes, wide in anticipation and fear of what she would next say. Her blood was running cold with anxiety; she had not projected this to occur so soon. What was she to do? She did not want to betray their trust and lie to them; they had shown her nothing but kindness and hospitality since her had met them. What to do...

"You know... don't you?" Sapnap's voice sounded sad. She panicked. 

"I don't want to lie." Her voice was sturdy, but her hands were shaky. "But I don't think that any response I can give will make you happy." A bang came from outside and Naomi shot up from her seat, goosebumps littering her skin. "What the hell was that?" The boys stood and grabbed their weapons. Dream pushed Naomi behind him.

"Wait here. We'll go check out what's happening." Naomi gave him a funny look; she was absolutely not going to be staying behind. Regardless, she gave him a nod confirmation and slunk back, sneaking into her room as the boys slid outside.

There stood a group of village raiders, holding up their banners and donning crossbows and axes. They were infamous for having groups all across the lands, being referred to as 'Pillagers' for their terrorizing ways. They were infamous for raiding villages, taking their supplies, and then killing or torturing the locals until they had nothing left. A hate group they were, living solely to terrorize others.

The group of four hid behind a large patch of shrubbery, a good ways away from the pillagers who were taking the liberties of arguing with one another in their language. They had brought their weapons, swords and backup bows. 

"What's the move?" Sapnap held a torch in one hand, sword in a sheath strapped to his back.

"I say ambush them. Who knows what they want with us." George whispered. Before the two could go out, Dream stopped them both. "What the heck man?"

"Don't just move without thinking, idiot." He pointed towards a ravine not too far from their location. "We'll lead them over that way and then knock them down and into the ravine. That way we can get rid of them in larger groups."

They nod and begin to move in. Bad and George head to one side whilst Dream and Sapnap take the other. George perched himself at the base of a boulder, situating himself just out of sight as to strike from a safe range, Bad waiting not too far from him with his sword ready. The wait for the crucial moment, hearts pounding in their chests as they waited for Dream to give them the call to attack. The pillager leader, let out a growl, and stopped his men in his tracks. 

"Now!" Sapnap and Dream lunged in first, attacking two pillagers from behind and landing a blow upon one of the pillagers with their sword, cutting a deep gash through the skin of their back. Sapnap took his torch and set the banners on fire, causing them to panic as the fire spread from the banners to their clothes, burning them in succession. Dream hacked at their feet, catching them off balance and knocking their weapons out of their hands before sending his sword straight through their chests.

The out-roar was instant, and the pillagers began to deploy attacks near instantly on the men, charging with growl-like war cries. Their axes were infamously sharp, said to cut a man with as much ease as scissors to paper, and their crossbows had the ability to send men flying back several feet upon impact with an arrow. 

George shot several arrows at them from afar, shooting at their arms and causing them to lose control on their weapon's handling. Several pillagers began to fall as arrows shot through their heads and chests, other to the loss of blood. Dream and Sap rounded up the ones remaining in attempt to move them westward. From there they would be able to push them down the ravine. Axe and sword clashed, several pillagers falling prematurely as they creeped towards the ravine.

"George to your left!" Bad intervened, crossing swords with another pillager who had raided the goggled man's blind spot. He kept at hitting the pillager in front of him frantically. "Get! Away! From! Him! You! Ugly! Muffin!!!!" 

"Start leading them towards the cliffs!" Dream yelled out at them, kicking a pillager away from him and plunging his sword into their chest before moving westward. The pillagers yelled out some commands on one another, and before they knew it, the aggression had increased ten-fold, several more emerging from the treetops in the western area they had planned to move, catching the men off guard. "Shit!" 

"Dream, what the hell do we do?" Sapnap grunted, warding off several pillagers only to be swarmed by more. He slashed at them, panting at the exergy he had already exerted fending off the aggressive pillagers. 

"Westward!" 

"Kind of hard with them fucking swarming us!" Sapnap pushed them off and moved close to Dream, covering his back while he slashed at the incoming pillagers. "How the fuck are we supposed to move in the direction they're already in??" 

"Language!!! We can't take them all Dream they're way too many of them!" George shot at a pillager just by Bad's shoulder while the man screamed at his friend. Bad slashed at another pillager only to get cut in the leg, yelping out in pain. "Dream!! Do something!!" 

"What am I supposed to do?" The situation was far worse than they thought it would be. The pillagers were far too over powering with their sheer numbers and brute force and aggression. A pillager stabbed at Dream's shoulder, causing the man to get knocked down as he groaned out in pain. He held the pillager above him as he attempted to prevent him from stabbing him again, his arm in deep, sharp pain. "Fucking... get off!" He kicked the pillager off barely in time, the axe smashing into the ground beside him. He stumbled up and towards Sapnap, holding onto the wound on his arm. 

They had to admit it, they were fucked. The situation had gotten way out of hand and now they were cornered. They couldn't move them westwards towards the ravines like they had wanted and they had somehow remained strong enough to corner them. 

"Move!" From within the chaos, a familiar feminine voice carried through. The men had barely moved out of the way when several bottles shattered upon the floor, a cloud of red surrounding the area as several pillagers dropped to the ground coughing in pain, many others fell and never got up. Looking up, there stood Naomi, still disheveled, satchel crossed over her body and a bottle of black potion in one hand, bow in the other. "Get away from them." 

\--------

_1-18-21_


	5. A Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trauma of time holds heavy upon one's shoulders.

Naomi stood firmly, potion bottles tightly within her grasp as she had barely arrived in enough time to help. She was panting, sweat accumulating on her forehead from having ran to where the boys had led the pillagers slightly westward. Her limbs were sore, and hands were clammy, but she stood as firmly as her confidence allowed her to, bow at the ready. The pillagers lay on the floor coughing or inactive, some looking to her in disgust and shame. Their eyes bore a judgement all to familiar her, deep hatred running within the inner mechanisms of their minds. She did not have time to process their judgement, and instead tossed a bottle of dark red liquid to Dream. "Dream, catch!" 

He managed to barely catch it, looking at the bottle and at the girl before him quizzically. He had never seen a liquid as viscous and blood red as the one held tentatively within his grasp. "What the fuck is this?" 

Naomi pulled out her bow and started shooting at the pillagers who had not been effected by her potion, joining in with George on taking some down. "Dream, drink it! Leave some for Sap and Bad too." She hollered, defending herself from a pillager with an axe. "Please trust me!" 

Dream stared at the potion for only a moment before pulling the cork off and taking a massive swig of it. A rush of adrenaline hit him, making his body tingle in unfamiliarity. He handed it to Sapnap, who looked at him in utter confusion and astonishment. "Uh Dream?" Sapnap looked at the potion apprehensively and then back at his friend. "You're kinda like... glowing?"

Looking down at his body, Dream saw what Sapnap had been referring to; from his arms and legs a shiny, bubbly effect was illuminating him. "Well shit."

"GUYS?! LESS TALK. MORE HELP." Bad took the opportunity to yell at the two in the midst of several pillagers standing up shakily and angrily. Their eyes screamed vengeance and they all knew that what Naomi had done was only a temporary fix. 

"Shit sorry!" Rolling his sleeves up and pulling out his sword, Dream lunged for the pillagers. "It's just that I'm not used to being a human glowstick."

George rolled his eyes and shot at a nearby pillager. "Shut up. You're so unfunny."

"Can we leave the fun banter for later, please!" Clearly irritated, Bad stabbed at another pillager, knocking them down with a kick to the knees and then taking the opportunity to groan out in exhaustion. "Are we taking them westward still??"

"Damn right we are!" Sapnap, who had taken a swig of the contents of Naomi's bottle as well, jumped into the action, glowing the same as his blonde companion. Their exhaustion had momentarily subsided as they slashed at the incoming pillagers, taking them down within one or two swoops of their swords. "Let's gooo!" It was a chaotic dance, with the five friends fighting side by side in a battle slowly heading westward. A mess of arrows coming from bows and crossbows had completely disrupted the peace of the forest. The nature and wildlife had retreated, leaving only the heartful cries of the pillagers and the exhausted grunts of the five friends battling. From the corner of Naomi's eye, she could spot the ravine on the western portion of forest, evident by the massive rip in the Earth's surface leading down what would be around a 500 foot drop. It was no doubt that if one fell down they would face immediate death. 

"What's the plan again?" She shot at a pillager creeping up towards Bad, the arrow splitting through their bicep and eliciting a painful cry from them. "I assume that it won't be easy to just... push them?"

George grabbed a pillager adjacent to him by their lapel and threw them into the ravine. "Why not?" Naomi stared at him in pure shock, blinking in astonishment for only a few moments before jumping back into the moment and kicking a pillager into the ravine. "See, you already got it!" And so they proceeded to kick the pillagers into the ravine, Sapnap and Dream cutting down the rest of them and tossing them down the ravine in succession while Bad kept them rallied up as for them to not run away. A twinge of guilt settled into Naomi's mind for only a moment, quickly shaking the feeling off as she reminded herself just what they had done across the many villages across the land.

"Holy shit..." They all panted as the final pillager fell. The fight had been nothing but exhausting, the sheer number of pillagers having caught them off guard initially. "We did it!" Sapnap exclaimed excitedly, throwing his arms around George and Bad's shoulders in pure mirth.

"Woo!!!" The others cheered along with him, Dream catching his breath before joining in and giving the boys a good punch on the shoulder and a ruffle of the hair. He turned to Naomi, who stood watching the ordeal at a safe distance. She picked up the potion bottle that she had given Sapnap and Dream and stared at the remains of the contents. 

"Naomi." She looked up, Dream's voice bringing her back. The worries she had thrown to the side while they had been fighting had rudely interjected into her mind again; her body shivered in fear and she felt an icy hot sensation flush run across her skin. She looked at him with the hopes that the worries in her mind could not and would not be read within the expression in her eyes. "Join us, ya idiot." 

The reaction took a moment. A moment she stood there like the fool she was, unable to compute the words he had said fast enough. The second moment she had lunged herself into their group hug, a warm blanket of comfort enveloping her. She knew then, in the comfort and safety of her companions, that they deserved to know the plaguing thoughts in her head. For the first time in a very long time, Naomi, the girl with no real home, felt like she would be okay.

\---

"Well then, care to tell us about the voodoo shit that you just pulled?" They walked in succession, the life of the forest being returned slowly yet surely as the chirp of the occasional grasshopper or hoot of the owl chimed into their conversation. Not too far from their home, they were, the lights of the lanterns burning dimly in their path.

"Well what do you want to know?" A brush of wind went past the brown-skinned girl as she walked in measured steps, feet sore and hands blistered. "I'm sure you can all guess just what I am."

"So those men _were_ looking for you." George said in an tone that almost indicated that he was astonished. "To think that Dream didn't accidentally rat you out. "

"Good think I answered the door, Gorg, since I know how to be smart unlike you." 

"Shut the hell up, nerd."

"Guys shut up and let her speak!" Sapnap groaned and interjected, clearly wanting some sort of explanation from Naomi on what the hell was happening. They had arrived home within the time they had been chatting, beginning to unpack their weapons and lay down their gear.

Naomi smiled softly, a sense of comfort reaching her at their nonchalant behavior even all that had happened just now. There was a sense of normalcy that she did not think would be achieved. However, her heart still hammered away in her chest, perhaps due to whatever anxiety consumed her regardless of the tone surrounding her. She took a moment to look at them laying down their weapons; what would they think? A beat. She stopped walking. "You're right." A sigh drew from her lips, soft yet grounding. "I'm a Witch. Though I think that you guys kinda already figured that out." 

Sapnap takes the change to ask some of the questions burning in the back of his head. "So what was that thing you gave me and my man Dream?"

"Strength potion. Drinkable kind though, not a splash variation." She immediately figured they were confused on what a splash potion was. "Oh um... like the thing I threw at the pillagers earlier! The one that made them cough and almost die and shit? That's a splash potion." She gives them a small smile, feeling a little awkward explaining all of this to someone else safely for the first time.

"Shit what even was that potion?"

"Instant damage. It's pretty dangerous so I don't usually brew it." Naomi explained a couple little things to the boys as they continued settling down. It was a comfortable conversation, leaving her feeling pleasantly surprised. Dream took the chance to ask the question that had been bugging him since before the encounter with the pillagers.

"So Naomi," he began, almost apprehensively. "Who were the men that came earlier?" 

"Soldiers. They were sent to find me."

A moment passes. Bad is the first to speak up. "But... why would they be looking for you?" There was pure confusion in his voice, catching Naomi off guard. Her eyes softened, realizing in that moment that they did not understand the implications of what she had said. 

"I am meant to be killed." The air grew heavy within the instant, the expressions on their faces morphing from confused to a mixture of horrid and sadness. Naomi's voice grew the slightest bit tight as her emotions began to overwhelm her. "The day you and George found me I had run away from my execution. I don't think I even realized how far I had gone."

There were no words that could describe the turmoil in the minds of the four men. Never had they heard of witches being real, yet here stood one in from of them in the form of a lost girl who had become their friend. How could they understand? They had left their home so long ago they hardly remembered the state of politics within their own inner circle. The universal hatred of witches had simply never been instilled in them. "But... why?" Dream's voice came with a fragility that could easily be shattered within moments. 

This felt slightly ridiculous to her. How could they be so clueless to all this? Had they been sheltered all their lives? "Have you looked at me? I'm exactly what they all hate. I have skin and hair that doesn't conform with what they want. I'm a woman that knows something more than they do. Making potions isn't exactly normal. It doesn't... _matter_ whether I am good or bad. In this world, a woman with too much knowledge and difference is a threat." 

A croaky breath comes from her as she attempts to calm herself, a frustration settling over her. In her head, she is desperately trying to stay calm. None of the boys speak up. Naomi looks at her feet, and mutters out finally. "Is it alright if we talk about this later?" They simply nod and she hums back, retreating to her room.

The four men, coming from sheltered and isolated life, merely stood in he courtyard processing the information they had learned. In the light of many lanterns and the brightly shining moon, the weight of the words said to them settled onto their skin like a million papercuts.

\---------

_1-31-21_


	6. A Starless Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes all one needs is the should of another.

The night had gotten cold, a soft drizzle falling from the sky with the faint sounds of rain pitter pattering onto the roof and windows. It had to be no earlier than 11 at night, with Bad fast asleep, George retreated in his room, and Sapnap taking a shower. The fourth man was no where to be found, however that was the least of Naomi's worries as she sat out on the porch watching the rain in silence, eyes unfocused and mind elsewhere. She folded herself into a bundle, keeping herself warm under her layers of sweater, pants, and shirt. 

"Am I being stupid...?" She muttered so softly that she could hardly hear her own words. They couldn't have known of what her life had consisted of, it was irrational for her to be as upset and conflicted as she was. However, feelings were still feelings, and all that Naomi felt was a pit within her stomach as she anxiously watched the rain, hoping that her breaths would stay even and her mind calm. "Goddamn it..." 

Naomi was no fool to her position in life. It had been established very early in her childhood that her role as a person on this Earth was to be scorned. She had always found a way to comply and act as was necessary for her survival as the farmer's daughter born out of wedlock. She did not realize that the world outside of the town she once considered very small had so many differences. 

The first mistake she had made was the day she decided that she could be more than she was. Reading was taught to her in the school she attended, the Common language being the universal scripture of the town and many of the neighboring villages and towns. She had the gal to go further than what she had been taught. 

It was a day that was burned within her memory; she had been delivering groceries to a wealthy family with motor issues that prevented them from making any commutes themselves. She had walked into the wrong room, one with oak shelves littered with books and journals and scriptures. She should have left the room, but curiosity bit at her like a sharp gust of chill wind and her long fingers took the first book she saw within her grasp. 

The words written upon the paper were not in Common, and yet her eyes scanned the page with no issue, absorbing the information at a snail's pace. It had only take a few moments for her to realize her mistake that day. Placing the book down, she left the library, heart pounding in her chest.

"Naomi?"

Naomi physically jumped in her seat, letting out a yelp of surprise. She turned her up to look into the green eyes of Dream looking at her with an unreadable expression. She felt a little awkward, not knowing what to say. "Um... hi?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just watching the rain is all." She averted her eyes slightly, looking back out towards the rainy landscape before her, water droplets illuminated slightly by the dim light of wavering fire within the swaying lanterns. She pat the ground next to where she sat. "Wanna join?" No words were exchanged as Dream sat beside her, rubbing his hands together for warmth beyond the fingerless grip gloves and thick, dark emerald sweater that he hand on to protect him from the weather. 

"Uhh..." He trailed off as he attempted to find something to say. Admittedly, he had thought that he would be turned away very quickly. She hadn't realized that he too was a somewhat awkward person. "So... nice weather?"

She turned to look at him for a moment, before bursting out into a fit of laughter. She hadn't been one for small talk, and admittedly, neither had Dream. "Yeah." She gave him a small smile. "Nice weather."

"Do you... um... Death sentence?" _Well shit,_ Dream thought immediately as the words left his mouth. He felt so... awkward. His mind was jumbled with a million and one questions about why, what, when, where, etcetera etcetera. "Sorry." He coughed out, wincing slightly at his own idiocity. His younger sister back in their hometown would constantly berate him for his inability to handle awkward situations well.

"No, it's fine." Naomi adjusted herself into a comfortable sitting position. "I just thought that I'd have more time before I said anything about it." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

A moment of silence passed, however this time it was not uncomfortable or awkward. The only sound was the pitter patter of rain and the whistles of the winds. Dream waited for Naomi to speak first. 

"I um... am the daughter of one of the farmer's in the town. Was born out of wedlock though. My mum was one of the housekeepers." She looked up a little at her companion, who was listening intently. She continued on. "One of the neighboring families couldn't come to pick up their produce from the farm, so I was going to drop them off." She related to him the story of the library, watching his face morph into different levels of confused as she spoke. 

"You just _read_ it?" His words came out louder than he expected, yet he looked at her with an expression of pure awe. "Did you take it with you? The book?"

"Hell no!" She waved her hand in firm disagreement. "That book was so scary to me. I had never seen those words before but I could just read them. I ran out and gave the lady her eggs before running out." She could practically feel it; the rush of adrenaline, the shakiness of her hands as she left that house and that book behind. "But honestly I don't think I ever stopped thinking about it."

"What did it say?"

Naomi stood up. "Do you want to see for yourself?" Before Dream could respond, she had already began to head inside, going to her bookshelf and grabbing off the shelf the thick, leather bound book. It was heavy and worn, bound together with beige twine and full of pages upon pages of writing and graphics. She went back outside and sat beside the blond haired man, opening the book in her lap. 

"Holy shit, but didn't you just say you didn't grab it?" 

"Not the first time I saw it. But I went back for another delivery and I just hid it in my bag and read it back in my home at night." She flipped to a page with slight wear in the page. On it was a mess of characters written out to form directions and a recipe. A sketch of the brewing apparatus was roughly sketched out along with small sketches of the individual ingredients. The colors on the page appeared to be once vibrant but had faded over time, and the details were rather intricate for what were meant to be sketches. "This is a potion for healing." 

"So wait." Dream scooched a tad bit closer to her as to get a better look at the book. He hardly noticed their proximity. "You're telling me that you read this shit and learned how to make potions?" 

"Yeah pretty much." Naomi flipped a couple pages forward. "Here's the potion for strength that I gave you and Sapnap earlier."

"That's so fucking cool."

Naomi cracks a smile. "I suppose it is." She closed the book, standing up and stretching slightly. Dream's eyes waivered over the book in her grasp, a thousand and one questions running through his head. What exactly happened to this strange girl standing before him. There she stood before him, appearing so well put together, yet he could only imagine the amount of entropy in her head. "Do you want to head inside? It's chilly." Dream shook his head, to her surprise. 

"I rather talk out here. It's kinda nice, honestly." The rain had started to pick up, as had the wind. Both whistled and pattered away in a melodic dance, yet the world seemed to be at a standstill otherwise. 

"Oh? You a fan of the rain?"

A twinkle of joy shimmered in Dream's green eyes, and Naomi had witnessed yet another interesting expression from her enigmatic leader. "Oh yeah. It reminds me of our hometown."

Naomi takes a seat again, getting comfortable and listing out the questions in her head. "Can I ask about said hometown or..?"

"Well I don't mind answering if you have questions." He hadn't known why he had said it, but the words had come out unfiltered. 

"Well um. Where is it?"

Dream let out a chuckled and pointed eastward. "That way. I lived just out of a larger town called 'L'Manburg' that was inhabited by a bunch of idiots. They'd always start fights and they all had dumb as shit accents."

"You don't sound like you hate them though?"

"Ha! Well I don't think anyone really could."

"Was it just you four that lived nearby... L'Manberg?"

He shook his head. "Wasn't that many of us, but there were definitely more of us. Some good friends of mine. Quackity, Karl, Ant, Punz... just a few of them that lived over there. Were plenty more too but was hard to keep track with how many random factions that formed."

"Factions?"

"Ehhh don't worry about it." The land in which Dream once lived was far too confusing to understand. Especially in a simple conversation. "Oh and my sister lived there."

"What was her name?"

"We call her Drista. I think you two would probably get along seeing as she's a little shit." Naomi punched him playfully in the arm.

"What are you insinuating?" 

"Ohhh nothing."

"Ok so riddle me this--" Naomi thought about her next few words in advance. "You're telling me, that you left this land with all your friends and your sister and this weird neighboring town with people with accents to come live in essentially the middle of nowhere?"

"Yeah pretty much." Dream wheezed, the situation was kinda odd, huh? "Ok look look, wait! The four of us just really needed a change from our life. We just wanna live without having to deal with everyday chaos. I'm telling you that if you met those idiots back home, you'd want to rip your eyes out."

Naomi smiled. "I'll take your word for it. Though it seems like it'd be nice to visit."

"Want to go there?"

"Huh?"

"We can plan a trip there." He pauses. "If you want to go, that is."

"No way."

"Yes way." Dream laughed. "It's not that far from here, actually. We decided to stay somewhat nearby so it's only like, half a day's travel on horseback." They had a few tamed horses kept in a makeshift stable adjacent to the fenced in barn for all their animals. George took care of them very well, hence why they were well trained enough for long duration trips. "So?"

An ear to ear grin graced Naomi's face and she nodded rapidly. "I'd love to! I haven't been about people other than you, Gogy, Sapnap, and Bad in so long! Can we go soon? I can help with the preparations!"

A warm feeling bubbled in Clay's chest as he watched the girl in front of him simmer in excitement. She way practically glowing with just how much excitement was radiating through her veins. Had she always been so... shiny? She looked so radiant, and Dream was not sure how to handle his emotions. His go to response was to just grin and play along with her excitement.

"Okay okay you can help. I'll tell the other guys about it tomorrow and we can plan it out for the next few days."

"Dre you are the best!" She gave him a beaming smile and grabbed her things. "I'm going to go sleep so that the morning will come sooner." She ran back inside, leaving the green eyed man out on the patio alone, his face feeling warm and his stomach filling up with butterflies. 

He was not used to girls, there weren't that many back where he lived before. It was a society consistent of mostly men and a smattering of girls that took the liberty of creating a faction of their own to keep the hell away from all the guys when they decided to start some random conflict in the middle of the day. Even his sister had made fun of his inability to communicate properly with girls due to his flustered demeanor around them.

Dream considered himself to be a smooth guy at that, being known as the ominous green eyed man with many skills under his belt. He was the one that would take the upper hand in most combat, and his nimbleness was the most impressive of any other person he had ever met. He was level headed and calm. Only his four friends could cause him to breakdown into fits of laughter that would derail into wheezes and witty comebacks. 

For the first time in his 21 years of life, Dream had met a girl who caused him to melt at the very sight of her smile.


End file.
